Firms meet SA premier on battery project

A group that wants to build one of the world's biggest batteries in South Australia is preparing to meet with Premier Jay Weatherill.

Representatives from SA-based energy storage company ZEN Energy and its US sister company Greensmith will speak with Mr Weatherill on Monday.

The companies will bid to jointly build a massive battery for storing renewable energy in SA, under the government's recently announced energy strategy.

The battery will have a capacity of about 100MW and is the first project to be financed through the government's $150 million renewable technology fund.

ZEN Energy chairman Ross Garnaut says the company and Greensmith are a "local-global partnership" with the ability to boost SA's power reliability and security.

"Greensmith is the recognised global leader in grid-scale battery storage while ZEN Energy has pioneered the deployment of energy storage technology in South Australia," he said in a statement on Monday.

Greensmith recently worked on a similar 95MW battery project in California and has been responsible for installing 40 per cent of America's battery capacity.

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Expressions of interest from companies to build the battery close on Friday.

The SA government also announced on Sunday that expressions of interest to build a new state-owned gas-fired power station, another part of its $550 million energy plan, would open on Tuesday and close a fortnight later.

The 250 megawatt generator will be the first electricity infrastructure built and owned by the state government since the previous Liberal government privatised the state's power assets 18 years ago.